First Modern Warfare 3 Trailer Strikes, Promises Global Warfare

Wondering why Activision has acted so blase about the recent Modern Warfare 3 leaks? Because none of it is surprising, as evidenced by the just-released first full-on trailer, featuring all the explosions and bombastic set-pieces we could picture from a Call of Duty title in our sleep. It's spectacular stuff, no doubt, and promises to take Modern Warfare's until-now isolated conflict to a global stage, but we could have called it, beat for beat.

The trailer begins with a klaxon blast amid furious drumbeats, as a flickering green signal resolves itself into the word, America, before segueing to a shot of New York, its towering skyscrapers riddled with gaping wounds and blazing fire, as sunken warships bob in the Hudson River. A helicopter hovers beside a building bearing the United States flag as ash and soot choke the air, before the first glimpse of in-game gameplay is revealed, showing a US marine - possibly Delta Force - tossing the player a magazine, which he duly slots in a rifle. This particular segment ends with a Russian submarine docked in the river launching missiles at the city.

The same green signal band returns, this time revealing the word, England. SAS troopers fire in formation at an oncoming truck, felling the vehicle onto its side as it skids across the tarmac towards them. In an abrupt cut, we switch to a truck deep in the London underground, pursuing a train before colliding with the front carriage and releasing it from the tracks with disastrous results.

Next up, France; spec ops soldiers hustling through Parisian alleys before a glimpse of an explosive firefight outside a nondescript row of buildings. A van hightails it through a mall, as a helicopter sweeps after them above, firing down through the glass ceiling. Then, Germany; tanks bulldozing obstacles underneath their tracks, belching gunfire. Another glimpse in-game gameplay, as the player attaches a rappelling brace to the side of a roof before leaping off, just before an aircraft unleashes a rocket and destroys said tank. An enormous building, its outer layer stripped to reveal the skeletal structure within, shudders as a missile hits its bulk, before finally collapsing onto the street below with a devastating thump.

Then, we're back to America, marines fleeing in slow-motion, as Makarov - the terrorist who sparked this global warfare - explains, "It doesn't take the most powerful nations on Earth, to create the next global conflict. Just the will of a single man". Then, the trailer ends on an explosive, fast-cut high-note, as a helicopter spins into a building, a scuba unit swims through a flooded Brooklyn tunnel, an AC-130 fires down on a metropolitan sprawl, before a platoon riding a boat crest the wave sent out from an exploding submarine. It's thrilling stuff, culminating in a shot of New York once more, pillars of smoke and flame pouring from the once great nation as jets swoop in ominously.

An image flashes onto the screen; WW3, before the first 'W' spins round to become an 'M'. MW3, due on the 8th of November, 2011. It's pretty fantastic stuff, although we expect no less from Call of Duty. What say you, Dealspwners?